Deesa Airport
Deesa Airport, also known as Palanpur Airport, is an airport in Deesa, Gujarat originally built to serve the princely state of Palanpur. It is managed by the Airports Authority of India.
The airport hit national headlines in February 2011 when Subramanian Swamy claimed that 2G case accused Shahid Balwa illegally used the airport for transporting "all kinds of VIPs and criminals" in and out of the country secretly. The Airports Authority of India denied this was the case, stating that the airstrip was not used for the last 2 years, due to the poor condition of the airstrip, adding that it was fit only for paragliding. The airfield was most recently used for a sky diving program in 2013.
In September 2011, A K Gogoi, Commander in Chief, South Western Air Command of the Indian Air Force announced that there was a proposal to develop Deesa Airport into a full fledged Air Base and that the Defence Ministry had approved this proposal. Deesa was chosen due to its strategic location, being close to the international border with Pakistan. The first phase of this proposal includes spending INR 30 billion on strengthening airport infrastructure.
In March 2018, the Cabinet Committee on Security headed by the Prime Minister of India approved the forward air force base plan.
